Can you believe it? March 7 and your learning vacation is in a few short days and so is my favorite educational technology conference – the Michigan Association Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) conference in Grand Rapids. You may ask, what’s so great about this MACUL thing? First, it’s a great opportunity to meet other people with the same interests in integrating technology into their teaching and learning. Second, you get to hear so many great ideas, your head might explode. What’s not to love about that?
I’m pretty sure you have your travel and lodging arrangements all set, so we’ll spend a bit of time on the other stuff. The conference is spread between DeVos Place and the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and a pair of comfortable shoes is a must. The 2012 conference program will give you a layout of the facilities, but you can always take a look at the floor plans at the DeVos Place website.
Before you leave home, lets make sure to get your technology toolkit in order:
- Laptop or netbook – fully charged. Don’t forget the power adapter.
- Powerstrip or a handy 3-outlet adapter. Outlets are usually in short supply both in your hotel room and in DeVos and Amway conference rooms, so sharing juice is a nice thing.
- Wireless phone charger and data cable – especially if you have an iPhone.
- A backpack. The conference tote bags are nice and all, but I immediately transfer everything to my backpack. It’s much easier to manage all of your gear and swag you collect in a backpack, plus it’s much more comfortable.
- Water bottle – you will get a bit thirsty and standing in line is probably not your favorite thing to do.
- A stack of business cards. You’ll meet all kinds of cool people and you’ll want a way to track them down later. I always write what we talked about on the back of their cards.
When you arrive, think about one more thing: SB-CEUs. MACUL is a great opportunity to add State Board Continuing Education Units to your ongoing certification requirements. It’s way more fun to earn hours while listening to cool people like Leslie Fisher, Steve Dembo, Rushton Hurley, Kevin Honeycutt, and Mark Coppin.
I can’t wait to see you there while we learn and empower education together. This is an exciting time in education, and MACUL is a great place to see why and learn more about how you can make a difference in the lives of our students.
